(SomaliNet) Government soldiers on Saturday wounded two civilians near Black sea junction in Hodan district, south of the Somalia capital Mogadishu after a bomb attack on their vehicle. Witnesses told Somalinet the incident happened around 12:10pm local time when an unknown local militant hurled a hand grenade bomb at a pickup truck carrying policemen passing the area. The bomb was reported to have missed the target as the attacker escaped unharmed. The police forces opened fire in all direction injuring two people in the area. Several people in the area were arrested in connection with the latest bomb attack and the site of the blast was blocked.
Meanwhile, Local insurgents linked with the ousted Islamic Courts Union have launched an ambush attack on the government soldiers stationing near Guled hotel in north of Mogadishu overnight where the rival sides exchanged all sorts of weapons. There were no immediate casualties from that confrontation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer Sat Jul 28, 12:29 PM ET
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The last time Ahmed al-Shayea was in the news, he was in the hospital at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad...
Today, he says, he has changed his mind about waging jihad, or holy war, and wants other young Muslims to know it....
"I realized that all along I was wrong," al-Shayea told The Associated Press in a two-hour interview at a Riyadh hotel before returning to an Interior Ministry compound that serves as a sort of halfway house for ex-jihadists rejoining Saudi society....
He says that when he was handed over to the Americans a couple of days after his interrogation at the Iraqi Interior Ministry, he was scared because he had heard about the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.
"But the care with which the American officers carried me down to the car when they came to take me made me relax," said al-Shayea. "One spoke Arabic and tried to put me at ease."
After almost six months of medical care and interrogations during which al-Shayea said he was treated well, he was visited by three Saudi officers.
"There is no jihad. We are just instruments of death," he said.
The United States has publicly pointed out the location of nine terrorist training camps in the North Waziristan area of the Pakistani tribal areas. It's in this area that senior al Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding, and the U.S. is trying to persuade Pakistan to make a major move into the area to shut down the camps and round up al Qaeda and Taliban members. The United States also refuted reports that they would bomb targets in Pakistan without permission from the Pakistani government.
The Pakistani government is now at war with al Qaeda and the Taliban. The Islamic terrorists from both organizations threaten to launch a major suicide bombing campaign, but, so far, this is off to a slow start.
Over the past six years of terrorist activity in the area, the terrorists have made themselves very unpopular. So the Islamic radicals have to be careful, as most Pakistanis are inclined to turn them in. The government is also installing a network of video cameras in the capital, apparently inspired by British security advisors, who have been working with Pakistani counter-security forces to trade information and experiences.
#2
There will always be times when to get a job, objective, or mission done, its necessary for a Commander of any rank to diss = shake the system and higher ups. SMART/GOOD POLITICS IS NOT ALWAYS SMART/GOOD LEADERSHIP, PERSONAL OR NATIONAL SECURITY, OR EVEN VICTORY, etc.
#3
Last I knew, MOAB were not deliverable by anything but big, slow transport aircraft. I'm not even sure they could do it at such high altitude - and even then, they would be extremely vulnerable to even rudimentary AA/SAM protection which such training camps likely have.
However, if we really do have the coordinates of such training camps, we DO have ways to make them go away. Cruise missiles. Stealth fighter/bombers. Even Hornets. And of course, the old B-52 filled with whatever you want to deliver.
#5
If we wanted to, we could simply escort the 130's with F-16s carrying HARMs. Anyone turning on tracking radar would soon be eating raisins.
But I agree with the 'mouse. Nothing will be done. We have to hope for a miracle that President Hillary Clinton will prioritize the jihadis over her domestic enemies.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
07/29/2007 20:39 Comments ||
Top||
Balochistan Police on Saturday arrested 68 suspects from various parts of Quetta in connection with the murder of provincial government spokesman Raziq Bugti, Geo television reported. Unknown assailants gunned down Raziq on Friday afternoon at Zarghoon Road. The police conducted raids in Saryab Road, Chaki Shahwani, Barori, Kali Ismail and other localities, the channel quoted a police official as saying. Bijli Road police station has registered a case against unknown people.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So...did he have a lot of friends?
Ummmmmmmmmm...no.
Three policemen were killed on Saturday when unidentified people opened fire on them in the Lal Qila Midan area, Lower Dir district. An unidentified caller informed police about the presence of armed people in a graveyard on Hiyaseri-Lal Qila road. As the police reached the scene, the militants opened fire, killing Additional SHO Azam Khan and another policeman. Policeman Shahzad Gul received severe injuries and later died at the Timergara Hospital. Various attacks on security forces and police personnel in Dir district have been carried out in recent weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
A Pakistan Television (PTV) journalist Saturday said he was innocent following death threats from extremist students for interviewing former Lal Masjid head cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi after he had surrendered, in what the students deemed an insulting way. Anwarul Hassan, a PTV talk-show anchorman, received the threats on Friday when madrassa students took over Lal Masjid again following a cleanup operation by the armed forces on July 10. Anwar said he was told to interview a burqa-clad Aziz, the attire he had attempted to escape in. It was not my decision to interview him in the burqa. I am an employee and I did what I was told, he said. We will avenge Maulana Azizs humiliation at the hands of Hassan, who interviewed him in an insulting way, the students announced on the mosques loudspeaker before police stormed in. I hope sanity will prevail and I will not be harmed, because I am a professional and do not believe in insulting people, Anwar said. He also denied that he was a Shiite Muslim, an impression the students seem to have. I am a Sunni, please understand that, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
I hope sanity will prevail and I will not be harmed...
The federal capital is likely to suffer from more suicide bombings as around 600 suicide bombers are hiding in madrassas and mosques within and around the limits of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, sources told Daily Times on Saturday. Around 600 students of Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia have not returned to their homes after the Lal Masjid operation. These are the people called missing students and they are hiding in madrassas and mosques in and around the two cities. These are walking bombs and are determined to blow themselves up any time, anywhere, said a source directly involved in the ongoing investigation of suicide blasts in the country.
During interrogation, former Lal Masjid prayer leader Maulana Abdul Aziz said that five to six hundred students of the two madrassas had been trained, equipped and brainwashed to carry out suicide attacks. These students left the madrassa according to a plan before the final operation against the mosque was launched, the source said, adding that some female students had also been trained to provide support to these bombers. During the debriefing of students captured from Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, the security agencies learnt that the teenaged students believed that President Pervez Musharraf and his team were kaafirs (non-believers) and agents of the US and had to be killed. The bombers are targeting army and law enforcement personnel to avenge the killings of their colleagues and Abdul Rashid Ghazi, said the source.
According to intelligence reports, at least 60 operatives are masterminding the attacks against security personnel. Investigations have revealed that these operatives are operating from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the source said, adding that military actions alone against the militants would not bear the desired results. Neither the operation nor massive killings can resolve this issue. It will instead trigger an unending bloodbath throughout the country, the source quoted Maulana Aziz as telling his interrogators.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Neither the operation nor massive killings can resolve this issue.
I wouldn't be so sure. Anyway, a good intention is almost as a good deed, sez koran. If it does not work out, at least they were trying.
Iraqi Army and Iraqi Security Forces, with U.S. Special Forces as advisers, detained four suspected rogue Jaysh al-Mahdi terrorists insurgents during an intelligence-driven raid in Baghdad, July 27. Iraqi forces and U.S. Special Forces detained their four primary terrorists targets in the neighborhood of Al Shulla in southern Baghdad without incident.
I personally like 'terrorists' but 'targets' works just as well.
During the raid, Coalition Forces confiscated an identification card and other documents, which identified one of the men as a JAM battalion commander. A memorandum was also found that instructed JAM members when and where to meet for future JAM activities. Even the terrorists have an entrenched bureaucracy, it seems.
"Mahmoud! Where's the meeting form?"
"Look under C:users/mahmoud/documents/myspace/meetings/JDAM/"
"Is that JAM or JDAM?"
"Uh-oh ..."
The alleged terrorists insurgents are responsible for emplacing explosively formed penetrators, more commonly called EFPs, around Baghdad. They are also believed responsible for attacks on Iraqi and Coalition Forces. No Iraqi or U.S. forces were harmed in the intelligence-driven operation.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins ||
07/29/2007 13:31 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Mahdi Army
#4
Does the cost of training have to be amortized across the number of kills? How often is that recalculated to comfort Congressional Democrats about the falling cost of waging war?
#5
After we are done interrogating, I would turn over each foriegn Sunni to the local Shia authorities for trial and each foriegn Shia to the local Sunni authorities for trial. That eliminates our cost of detainment and reduces the chance that we will see the detainees on the battle field again to near zero.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/29/2007 12:17 Comments ||
Top||
#6
What matters most:
1) number of kids able to lead ordinary lives and go to school
2) number of adults able to go to work
3) number of businesses open each day
4) number of markets doing bidness
5) number of impromptu soccer games in the streets
6) number of Western-garbed women on same streets
7) number of people griping about gummint instead of waving AK's around
Give me good numbers there and I'll take a wild guess as to the numbers of dead terrorists.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/29/2007 14:15 Comments ||
Top||
$177 million per day, which comes to $7.4 million per hour or $122,820 per minute.
By the above figures, even a millions bucks per deader is rather conservative. It is why this war needs to be fought in an entirely different way. Only Islam can clean its own house. Either we devise a lever that forces them to do so or we burn down the house of Islam. Fighting this war one-bullet-at-a-time simply will not work.
#8
Fighting this war one-bullet-at-a-time simply will not work.
Fully concur Zenster, what we have here is a millennial lollipop. George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, Norman Swartzkoff, and William Tecumseh Sherman all combined couldn't sort his kak out with the Washington and State Department diplo-dink strategy currently employed. Give the military a free hand and lots of B-52's, it'll be quiet and peaceful in no time at all.
#9
If by "millennial lollipop" you mean we're being played for all-day-suckers, I could not agree with you more. Islam must be hysterically laughing up its sleeve at how we are trying to rescue it from itself. This world's Muslim population needs to be beaten so hard only their hair doesn't hurt.
Iraqi and Coalition Forces conducted a combined air assault into Samood Village, an area near Turki Village, Iraq, July 26, killing 11 terrorists and detaining 13 suspected terrorists in an effort to secure the Turki Village region and provide stability to the local population.
Operation Woodshed began early Thursday morning with soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division, and paratroopers from Troop B, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, attached to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, targeting known terrorist cells in the area.
As Ive said before, the terrorists have no where to hide. In our eyes, there is no such thing as a safe haven, said Col. David W. Sutherland, commander of Coalition Forces in Diyala province.
Throughout the operation, the combined security forces, with assistance from attack helicopters, close-air support and field artillery assets, observed and killed several elements of anti-Iraqi forces attempting to maneuver on their elements.
While performing a thorough house-to-house search, Coalition Forces detained seven suspected terrorists, and the Iraqi Security Forces detained an additional six.
The Coalition and Iraqi forces will continue to conduct aggressive, intelligence-driven operations to target those organizations that have offered nothing but hatred and destruction to the citizens of Diyala, Sutherland continued. The terrorists actions will not be tolerated, and in the end, they will be brought to justice.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#2
Another new meaning for that hoary old phrase "taken to the woodshed."
Posted by: Mike ||
07/29/2007 8:48 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I don't want them "brought to justice", I want them hanging from telephone poles and lightpoles all over town, as both a promise to the locals and a warning to the rest of the jihadi crowd.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/29/2007 17:06 Comments ||
Top||
Multi-National Division Baghdad Soldiers along with Iraqi Army troops conducted Operation Rogue Thunder, establishing a new Coalition outpost in the western Baghdad neighborhood and uncovering a weapons cache July 24.
The new COP, Coalition Outpost Lion, was established by the 3rd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division with assistance from 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment. The U.S. troops assisted the Iraqi Army in building the fortified position intended to reinforce the Iraqi Armys presence and boost security in the troubled Mansour District of western Baghdad as part of Operation Rogue Thunder.
The operation also led to the discovery of a weapons cache. Seventy-seven artillery rounds were discovered in a hole in the ground during a combined search conducted by U.S. and Iraqi forces. An explosive ordnance disposal team determined the explosives could not all be removed safely. They conducted a controlled detonation of the cache on site.
Soldiers from 1-64 Armor continue to work in conjunction with the 3-5-6th IA to man and safeguard the new outpost. COP Lion houses sixty Iraqi Army soldiers and is reinforced with guard towers overlooking the neighborhood. Security forces will use the compound to provide greater security to the Jamia area.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
I've kind of wondered if, when blowing a cache in an urban area, or where you would like to limit collateral damage, if it would be worth it to get a thick, heavy, kevlar blanket to drape over the munitions.
The idea would be that it would take a lot of the more dangerous frag, and would just flop up into the air before falling down again.
#2
I beleive a blast blanket is used to minimize flying debris when blasting rock walls for roads and quarrys. I beleive they are very heavy and have to be pinned. In addition the blast is usually spread over a larger area and the debris isn't localized metal shards. All of the above to say that I suspect that Kevlar blankets would have limited use for eod disposal.
#3
77 arty rounds? That's a substantial boom. Don't know the Jamia 'hood, but Mansour in general doesn't have a lot of wide open spaces, I think. Kinda curious how they can blow something this big in an area like that.
#4
perhaps they share my opinion that innocent civilians living nearby woulda noticed that cache being implaced and reported it. Not doing so makes damage to their own living rooms very acceptable collateral damage?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/29/2007 10:49 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Rogue Thunder... Nice!
If one of them touches you, they absorb your X-Man powers.
Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers located multiple weapons and munitions caches, located a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device factory and rescued a kidnapping victim in northwest Baghdad July 26.
While conducting patrols in the area around Tall Yusuf village of Abu Ghraib, Soldiers form Company A, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment from the 1st Ironhorse Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division located five weapons and munitions caches. The caches consisted of mortars, anti-aircraft guns with ammunition, containers filled with high explosives, and other improvised explosive device-making material. The weapons, ammunition, and IED material were destroyed by an explosive ordnance disposal team.
Battery C, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Battalion conducted an air assault to relieve Co. A, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment at the cache sites and continued to patrol the area. While conducting their patrol the Soldiers discovered a VBIED factory, which contained several vehicles in different stages of completion.
While searching the building, a kidnapping victim was discovered. The victim claimed he was kidnapped in the Abu Ghraib area after visiting his relatives there. He said the persons responsible were agents of Al Qaeda, and they had kidnapped him because they believed he was a spy for the 1920 Brigade. The 1920 Brigade is a former Sunni group that had rejected the government of Iraqi, but has recently made overtures to reconcile with the government and the Coalition to defeat Al Qaeda in Iraq. The victim claims he had been kidnapped for almost four days, and that he had been tortured.
After the man had been rescued, Battery C, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Battalion requested aviation assets destroy the vehicles and the building which was being used as a car bomb factory. Aviators from the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cav. Div., destroyed the vehicles and a fixed-wing aircraft dropped a 500-pound bomb to destroy the building.
Battery C, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Battalion evacuated the kidnapping victim by helicopter back to Camp Taji where his wounds were assessed by Coalition doctors. Noting that the victim had no serious injuries, Soldiers from the 115th Brigade Support Battalion, convoyed the victim to Camp Liberty. From there, Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavarly Regiment returned the man to Abu Ghraib to be reunited with his family.
The 1st Ironhorse Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division is conducting Operation Iron Blitz, a series of missions in northwest Baghdad, to eliminate the ability of Al Qaeda and rogue Jaysh al Mahdi special groups to use the area as a staging ground for attacks into central Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
An Iraqi journalist working for a Kuwait-owned satellite channel was shot by an unidentified sniper while on his way to work, an Iraq-based watchdog said on Saturday. The Iraqi reporter, Adnan Al-Safi, 40, who worked for Al-Anwar space channel, died on Friday morning after he was shot by a sniper in the head on Wednesday, a statement from the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory said. Safi died from nerve damage more than 24 hours after the incident, which took place in the Otaifiyah area of northern Baghdad, one of his relatives told the organisation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
He must have reported something that somebody didn't want reported. You may not agree with everything these guys have to say but I think you must admit they have to be as brave as any soldier. When reporters can work freely in Iraq without fear of being a sniper's target for exposing cockroaches to the light of day you will know you have finally won the war.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
07/29/2007 15:52 Comments ||
Top||
Two Palestinian gunmen were killed Saturday while planting a bomb on the Gaza-Israel border, Palestinians and medical officials said. The men belonged to a militant offshoot of Fatah, the faction headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. In a text message sent to reporters, the group said the two were on a "holy mission." An IDF spokeswoman said the two were shot after they ignored warning fire to leave the border area, where a security fence separates Israel
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Aqsa Martyrs
IDF soldiers caught a Palestinian trying to cross Chawara checkpoint with two bombs Saturday evening. According to reports, the man had in his possession two pipe bombs and two improvised grenades. IDF sappers destroyed the devices in controlled explosions. The Palestinian was transferred to security forces for further interrogation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Next time, please destroy in a controlled explosion the substrate, too.
Terrorists Suspected insurgents on Sunday fatally shot a Muslim man who had left the rebel movement two years earlier in Thailand's violence-wracked south, police said.
Aayu Salamang, 40, was walking in the compound of his home in Narathiwat province when at least four men sprayed dozens of bullets into his backyard, killing him instantly, said police Lt. Kuman Sanya. The victim was once a member of a separatist movement in the area, but he surrendered to authorities two years ago, said army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote.
Aayu went into hiding for nearly two years in fear of retribution, only returning to his home two months ago, Akara said. "From initial investigations, we believe it was an act of revenge for betraying the insurgency movement. It was punishment for cooperating with authorities," he said.
Separately, security forces raided almost a hundred houses in Narathiwat province and detained 50 people, one of whom was suspected to be a key jihadi insurgent in the area, said Col. Pakorn Chantarachote. Authorities found guns, rifles, bomb-making materials including gasoline and ammonium nitrate, and mobile phones commonly used to trigger bombs, he said.
Security forces beat to death a Muslim man suspected in the execution-style slaughter of eight Buddhists in Thailand's barbarian insurgency-plagued south, a human rights group claimed Saturday. The prime minister, meanwhile, said no human rights abuses have been committed in southern Thailand.
On July 21, police and military officers raided a hut in Yala's Krong Pinang district to arrest five suspected members of a Muslim jihadi rebel terror commando unit believed to have carried out the execution-style shooting of eight Buddhists in a nearby district in March, according to the military and a human rights group. Pournpen Khongkachonkiet of the rights organization Working Group on Justice for Peace told The Associated Press that the officers severely beat Ashari Sama-ae, one of the suspects around his head and body while in custody. The 25-year-old employee of a motorcycle shop later died at a public hospital in Yala, Pournpen said.
A National Human Rights Commission official, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the press, said the commission visited three of the four other suspects at a military base in Pattani where they were being detained on Thursday and that they all said they had been beaten. The military said the suspects had violently resisted arrest. "The injuries were the result of fighting while the security forces attempted to round up the five suspects who tried to run away," said Col. Shinnawat Maendaet, the military commander in Yala province.
But Shinnawat said a committee would investigate the 15 army and police officials involved in the operation. He did not elaborate. "If they committed a wrongdoing, they will have to be prosecuted," he said.
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said all all suspected insurgents are subject to due legal process. "We assure people that the authorities are strictly following the judicial process. There are no human rights violations and no beatings," Surayud said.
A National Terrorist Rights Commission official said the commission visited three of the four other suspects at a military base in Pattani where they were being detained on Thursday and that when the commision asked suggestively [wink, wink] whether they were beaten, they all giggled and, in accordance with the articles of Al-Qaeda manual, said that they had been beaten.
When the NTRC spokesperson was asked about the rights of the slaughtered buddhists, she replied: "Shush, they're deader than dead already, what's yer point?"
#4
"...rebel commandos" WTF? OK, if they're "commandos" i.e. soldiers, then they've indeed committed human rights violations of a most vicious nature. How typical of the NGOs and their media enablers. Try to legitmize a bunch of koran-thumping moose-limb thugs, but never hold them to the standards that such legitimacy would require.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/29/2007 14:08 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I keep hearing how sooner or later the Thais are going to go all medieval on the muslims in the south, with the implication that they have a history of massive retailiation. Does anyone know anything about the background to that?
#9
It sounds like they need some cross-training with the RAB.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
07/29/2007 20:41 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Personal experience: you do not want to push the Thais to the point where they decide to go cold blooded on you. They have a couple thousand years of tradition to draw upon. And unlike us in the west, who tend to be as loud an menacing as possible, they are calm, methodical and very effective. The concepts of Mercy and Restraint (amongst others) leave their vocabulary at that point.
The Sri Lankan navy waged a short sea battle with Tamil Tiger militants Saturday evening, quickly sinking two rebel boats and killing six people on board, the military said.
The fighting occurred about 20 kilometers (10 miles) off Sri Lanka's northwest coast, when naval vessels ordered two small boats they suspected of belonging to the rebels to stop and then fired warning shots, said naval spokesman D.K.P. Dassanayake. The boats responded by firing a rocket propelled grenade. The navy fired back and sank them, he said. Sailors said a total of 10 people on the two boats, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
(Extremely Dubious Article)
"How close were we to seeing an armed nuclear conflict?" That is the question being asked as Syrian nationals temporarily vacated Beirut, Lebanon and the Jordan Valley during mid July according to sources close to ACG-CIS. Many security and intelligence officials believe that this behavior may have been related to the US sinking of a North Korean ship approximately 100 nautical miles from the coast of Iran.
It was not immediately clear why, around July 10, 2007, the Syrian nationals, primarily engaged in construction, trades and agricultural occupations, should have vacated Lebanon without notice. The nationals were noticed to have returned to Beirut and the Jordan Valley by July 21, 2007.
ACG-CIS is of the opinion that the approximate 10-day absence may have been in part due to a warning system alerting the nationals to the possibility of an impending military or terror strike against Israel and other western interests in the region.
According a number of news sources, officials and clerics from Syria and Iran met during this time period reportedly to draw plans and scenarios for proposed attacks and increased activity against western interests in both the Mid East region and elsewhere. Those talks ended last week with no official announcements from any of the participants.
ACG-CIS, based upon further analysis, believe that the nationals were warned of an apparent military style strike or strikes as Hezbollah was reported to be moving missiles in civilian populated areas throughout southern Lebanon. This movement along with the involvement of the Iranian president, an adamant believer in nuclear technology and development, lead to concerns about the possibility of a military style "dirty bomb" nuclear attack or a ballistic missile attack involving nuclear weapons purchased from North Korea.
It was reported earlier this month that while the North Korean 2006 test demonstrated the viability and reliability of North Korea's Scud- and Nodong-class systems, it left open the status of the three ballistic missile systems that the Korean People's Army (KPA) recently placed, or is placing, into service as testing on North Korea short-range missile systems has been quietly ongoing.
In reports first published by DEBKAfile, American naval and air forces intercepted two North Korean vessels clandestinely en route for Iran with cargoes of enriched uranium and nuclear equipment in the past month. The shutdown of Pongyong's nuclear facilities has made these items surplus to North Korea's requirements and the Islamic Republic was more than willing to pay a hefty price for the goods.
On July 12, the second intercepted North Korean freighter was sunk in the Arabian Sea by torpedoes fired from a US submarine 100 miles southeast of the Iranian naval base-port of Chah Bahar. Delivery of its freight of enriched weapons-grade uranium and equipment and engines for manufacturing more fissile material including plutonium in its hold could have jump-forwarded Iran's nuclear bomb and warhead project, lopping off at least a year of work. For this Iran's rulers were ready to reportedly pay out a cool $500 million.
A few hours earlier, President Bush received an intelligence briefing on the vessel, its freight and destination. Apparently the shipment was brought forward by several weeks to evade detection by UN nuclear inspectors scheduled to visit Pyongyang this week to verify the dismantling of its nuclear facilities.
US airplanes had been tracking the freighter and picked up signs of radioactivity, indicating the presence of nuclear materials aboard.
President Bush had the option of ordering US Marines to board the vessel or to sink it. He decided on the latter - both because the North Korean freighter was approaching an area patrolled by Iranian naval units and seizure of the vessel by American marines might have provoked a clash; secondly, it was the better choice in order to avoid exposing US troops to radioactive contamination. American naval and air units in the Persian Gulf, Middle East and seas opposite North Korea were ordered to go on a high state of readiness and the torpedo the North Korean vessel was accomplished without delay.
After the attack, US warships raced to the spot where the ship went down where they picked up three lifeboats. Most of the North Korean sailors aboard were either injured or dead. Twenty in all died in the attack. They all bore symptoms of contamination. After the episode, the area was cordoned off and underwater equipment dropped to salvage the cargo from the sunken ship.
All the parties to the incident, the United States, North Korea and Iran, have kept the incident under wraps as the situation in and around the Gulf is inflammable enough to explode into a full-blown Iranian-US clash at the slightest provocation.
There was also the danger that North Korea might decide at the last moment to abort the closure of its nuclear facilities.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
That article makes absolutely no sense. We didn't want to risk a confrontation by boarding it so we torpedoed it? Huh? And we didn't want to risk possible contamination by boarding so we blast the contamination all over the ocean bottom and THEN go down and recover what we were to afraid to recover on the surface?
"Extremely Dubious" is an understatement. I now know where all the Weekly World News people went.
#3
Please oh please oh please let this be true. These are the sort of measures that will be required in the coming years. America can no longer tolerate the collusion of rogue regimes and Islamic tyrannies as they seek to undermine what is already a fragile global security.
If Bush truly had the wisdom to do this, he has recovered a lot of recently lost luster. So long as Europe persists in doing their best "What me worry?" Alfred E. Neuman impersonation, it'll be incumbent upon the USA to be the one who keeps pounding hot sand up Islam's coal chute.
#10
Off Topic: One of the things I find most attractive about Rantburg is the overall high quality level of snark. This thread has proven to be no exception, much to my personal gratification.
#11
Yes we certainly wouldn't want the world to see that type of evidence of Iran's plan. It had to be torps and a moonlight recovery. As if the Pentagon would choose a submarine attack. If the Pentagon is going to pull that type of trigger they will choose a method atha can be easily cancelled up to the very last split second ... i.e. not a submarine.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/29/2007 1:20 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Boarding on the high seas and confiscating plutonium would not initial a confrontation with Iran. They would probably deny knowing what the contents of the shipment were and pretend that North Korea must have been sending them a "gift". We would have held that stuff up for all the world to see and expose Iran (yet again) for exactly what they are.
And do you think they have moved their nuclear development to Venezuela yet?
#13
If the story is true, where are the injured North Korean sailors?
Posted by: Bill Uleash5007 ||
07/29/2007 3:37 Comments ||
Top||
#14
It's bogus, just like the rest of the "DEBKA exclusive" reports are. Rest assured, if it says "DEBKA exclusive" it means "we made this up last night over drinks".
Honestly, I don't know why the mods here let those through.
#16
Debka is known for producing disinformation for the Mossad, and embarassing both when reports are proven to be fiction. It has become clear that the President is going to coast out of his service with the Iran problem not solved.
#17
It has become clear that the President is going to coast out of his service with the Iran problem not solved.
I wouldn't see it as "clear", but likely. The man had his chance for greatness, but elected the safe road of mediocrity after a promising start. The price, if he does not yet wake up from his slumber, would be very high. It won't be only him paying it, but all of us.
#18
It's a bit soon to give History's verdict on the man. He did put General Petraus on the job, give him the necessary tools, and is running interference until September -- mostly by repeatedly insisting on waiting until then to discuss it. As a result poll numbers pro-Iraq War are going up (as well as his own), even as Congress's continue to sink.
#19
Given the crowd W has to work with at the east end of the Mall, it is perhaps unfair to judge him so harshly at this point in time.
Although cutting a shamnesty deal with Kennedy was ... shall we say, intriguing.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/29/2007 8:20 Comments ||
Top||
#20
...Given that this is DEBKA, one should take this with a deer-lick sized grain of salt. However, there IS a precedent - during the Korean War, the CIA sank a Norwegian 'peace' vessel that was taking medical supplies to the Chinese, and there were, ahem, no survivors. It would be nice, however, if the sub story were true. I'd point out, however, that there would be absolutely no reason why it wouldn't be a 'up to the last minute' operation - an aircraft attack could (in theory) give them enough time to make a distress call. Don't forget that Nork 'merchant ships' are actually naval auxilaries, and they might indeed have fairly capable air search radars and ESM equipment, especially if it's carrying a high-value cargo.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/29/2007 8:43 Comments ||
Top||
#21
I would like to note that I originally posted this to "Opinion".
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/29/2007 10:27 Comments ||
Top||
#23
Two things wrong with this:
1) Its debka
And
2) its debka.
Heh.
The article claims two intercepts and one sinking.
All kidding aside, can anyone prove that these ships even existed? They rather studiously avoid the mention of the ship names and registry.
If there was a ship with fissiles on it that we needed to take out, then the US Navy would want to "disappear" the crew, without giving them a chance to call for help. That would mean no torpedoes or ASM. And if the President wants the ships seized quickly at sea, it would not be the Marines in a boarding party.
The Navy happens to have groups of men who are trained to clandestinely and quickly assault difficult targets from the sea. SEALs.
And that's why the article is BS. A SEAL raid would have been sent in - capturing the ship with cargo intact, and certain members of the crew available for interrogation would have been an intelligence bonanza.
If the ship existed, and if anyone torpedoed said imaginary ship, it was the Israelis.
#24
Mike, sea skimmer type ASM come in well under most anything the Norks would put on a tub like that.
The problem is that ships do take time to sink, and a distress call would have time to go out. You need something to take out the comms and then the crew one at a time, or else obliterate the entire ship. The first would be SEALs, the second would be a combination of time-on-target airburst and pop-n-plunge ASMs (or else aircraft hitting with airburst frag bombs to shear the antennas, and some napalm to keep people off the decks, followed nearly instantaneously by ASM). As you might think, such a ballet of timing for missiles or aircraft would be very difficult and have a very high risk of allowing comms, so you may as well use torpedoes at that point. Thats why SEALs would be better for such a mission.
#25
If the story is true, where are the injured North Korean sailors?
"What about the crew, Jack? Are you going to have them disappear, too?" asked 'Rear Admiral' Thompson
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
07/29/2007 11:53 Comments ||
Top||
#26
I would think that a standard missile to the port bridge-wing would be the surest of preventing a distress call unless you have something to jam their transmission. I torpedo should work quickly as well, especially if the keel is constructed from stell made in NK or China.
I wouldn't necessarily worry about the transmission though. I'm sure that NK will know what happened in any case. If they protest, tell them we'll trade the ship and crew but not the cargo for the Pueblo.
That said - I would want the cargo intact, to see what it is. I would also want every piece of paper on board. To me that means Navy Seals on the mid-watch in a place where there is as few surface contacts as possible.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/29/2007 12:41 Comments ||
Top||
#29
There are several parts of this article that I find intriguing. I can well believe the Norks would do this. I can also well believe that the US would do something to counter it. I have no idea what happened, but I'd bet that any attempt to photo Diego Garcia would be "prevented", and not just because of the B2s stationed there.
I believe many of you are basing your ideas of what US torpedos can do from WWII films. Current US torpedos can do things you wouldn't believe. Warheads range from 2200lb of the highest explosive material the US has manufactured to nukes. The US has several warheads that are specifically designed to penetrate the pressure hulls of Russian submarines; others are designed to take out the Russian missile cruisers. Most US submarines have two torpedo tubes, and the two can be fired almost simultaneously. The effects of two overkill torpedos on a NORK rust-bucket would probably be devastating beyond belief. While I don't believe this article for a minute, the possibility exists. Who knows, the data for this article may have even been planted by a US agent, in an attempt to let the NORKS know what WOULD happen if they DID try something like this...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/29/2007 13:57 Comments ||
Top||
#30
If the story is true, where are the injured North Korean sailors?
Obviously, the sub surfaced and proceeded to machinegun any survivors in lifeboats or floating on the surface.
After all, that's what the Nazi's used to do and since the evil McChimpyBushitler and Halliburton/Cheney are Nazi's, well...
#31
Who knows, the data for this article may have even been planted by a US agent, in an attempt to let the NORKS know what WOULD happen if they DID try something like this...
Makes sense. Kim gets a shot across the proverbial bow sneak preview.
#33
Presuming that this article is correct, iff this NK ship was carrying weapons-grade nuke or radioactive materials, its Captain likely would NOT had stopped even iff properly demanded to under international = UNO rules by USN-Allied warships. *"DIRTY BOMB" MATERIALS > risk of excessive local contamination would be low to non-existent. COMMAND/POLITICAL DECISION comes down to sinking the ship or letting it proceed in its delivery [aiding proliferation, not stopping it.].
#34
One would thing a NKOR vessel with a very high value cargo would have picked up at least a rudimentary Iranian escort before it entered the Arabian Sea. The opportunity to destroy this vessel would have been way out in the Indian Ocean, sorta where Saddam's flotilla was hiding, once upon a time.
#35
Obviously, the sub surfaced and proceeded to machinegun any survivors in lifeboats or floating on the surface.
After all, that's what the Nazi's used to do
That's what the USN and USAAF used to do, too. "Mush" Morton killed the soldiers from a troop transport he sank. They would have joined the fight again if they had made shore. He got a medal for the patrol (if not specifically for that act).
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
07/29/2007 20:47 Comments ||
Top||
#36
Honestly, I don't know why the mods here let those through.
Probably for the same reason I still flip through the Weekly World News while waiting in checkout lines at the market. It's probably false but you just never know when someone will actually find Satan's skull in the New Mexico desert or when Batboy will go on a killing spree in Jersey.
Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman said Saturday in a rare statement that the showdown against Fatah al-Islam militants reached its final stages.
He's been saying that for the past month or two. It'll be over when the last terr's dead.
Suleiman said that the much-awaited final assault against the remaining members of the terrorist group in the Nahr al-Bared Plestinian refugee camp was "imminent". Meanwhile, Lebanese troops stormed a tiny enclave held by Fatah al-Islam terrorists in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared Saturday, killing at least eight militants. The state-run NNA said eight militants were killed in a sudden attack carried out by commando units of the Lebanese army against the Amqa sector, which is a junction commanding both flanks of the terrorists' enclave in the demolished camp. The army also moved armored vehicles and 106-mm jeep-mounted recoilless cannons into the camp in an apparent effort to demolish fortified bunkers and tunnels used by the terrorists in their fight which broke out May 20.
Army shelling of Fatah a-Islam outposts registered the intensity of three shells per minute, field reporters said. The general impression among field reporters covering the confrontation is that the army would achieve its total victory on Fatah al-Islam quite soon. The camp's population, estimated at 31.000 people before outbreak of the fighting, has evacuated to safety during lulls leaving behind the terrorists' families, estimated at around 70 women and children.
The army command, in a communiqué, renewed its repeated calls on the terrorists to allow their families to leave and refrain from using them as human shields. The communiqué noted that the army's casualties have been relatively high in the Nahr al-Bared battle mainly because the regular force was keen on pacifying civilians. The confrontation started when Fatah al-Islam terrorists killed 27 soldiers in unprovoked ambushes across north Lebanon more than two months ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Fatah al-Islam
#1
nice pics of the camp the last few days - put up a sign: "Rubble Sale". It's trashed and most, if not all, of the buildings are uninhabitable/ irreparable. Perhaps that has been an objective all along?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/29/2007 11:06 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Frank, you are underestimating the Palestinian ability to habitate rubble.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/29/2007 12:44 Comments ||
Top||
AT LEAST 30 former Guantanamo Bay detainees have been killed or recaptured after taking up arms against allied forces following their release.
They have been discovered mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but not in Iraq, a US Defence Department spokesman told The Age yesterday.
Commander Jeffrey Gordon said the detainees had, while in custody, falsely claimed to be farmers, truck drivers, cooks, small-arms merchants, low-level combatants or had offered other false explanations for being in Afghanistan.
You mean they ... lied?
"We are aware of dozens of cases where they have returned to militant activities, participated in anti-US propaganda or engaged in other activities," said Commander Gordon.
His comments follow the death this week of Taliban commander and former detainee Abdullah Mehsud, who reportedly blew himself up rather than surrender to Pakistani forces. In December 2001, Mehsud was captured in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo Bay until his release in March 2004. He later became the Taliban chief for South Waziristan.
I kinda wish we had him back, but I'm not totally displeased he went the splodydope route.
Commander Gordon said the US did not make it a practice to track detainees after their release, ...
What? Whaaaaaaaat? We aren't tracking these mooks? Tell me this is just disinformation, please ...
... but it had become aware through intelligence gathering and media reports of many cases of released detainees returning to combat.
"These former detainees successfully lied to US officials, sometimes for over three years," he said. "Common cover stories include going to Afghanistan to buy medicines, to teach the Koran or to find a wife. Many of these stories appear so often, and are subsequently proven false, that we can only conclude that they are part of their terrorist training."
Which is what the al-Q training manual tells them to do, isn't it.
An analysis of 516 Guantanamo detainees found that while there was no evidence linking six of them to terrorist activities, 95 per cent were a potential threat to US interests. This was based on their affiliations with groups such as al-Qaeda, their enthusiasm for violent jihad, their having undertaken small-arms training or having been willing to perform a support role for terrorism.
But only one in three could be definitely identified as a fighter for the Taliban, al-Qaeda or associated groups, according to the analysis by the Combating Terrorism Centre based at the West Point Military Academy.
Most were considered a greater than potential risk due to support they had shown the Islamist cause by fighting for Islamist forces or by undertaking advanced military training, including bomb-making.
The review does not include the so-called "Australian Taliban", David Hicks, who has pleaded guilty to terrorist offences. It was undertaken after an analysis by Seton Hall University, a private university in New Jersey, of the detainee system found only 8 per cent of detainees were al-Qaeda fighters.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(SomaliNet) Government soldiers on Saturday wounded two civilians near Black sea junction in Hodan district, south of the Somalia capital Mogadishu after a bomb attack on their vehicle. Witnesses told Somalinet the incident happened around 12:10pm local time when an unknown local militant hurled a hand grenade bomb at a pickup truck carrying policemen passing the area. The bomb was reported to have missed the target as the attacker escaped unharmed. The police forces opened fire in all direction injuring two people in the area. Several people in the area were arrested in connection with the latest bomb attack and the site of the blast was blocked. 
A Pakistan Television (PTV) journalist Saturday said he was innocent following death threats from extremist students for interviewing former Lal Masjid head cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi after he had surrendered, in what the students deemed an insulting way. Anwarul Hassan, a PTV talk-show anchorman, received the threats on Friday when madrassa students took over Lal Masjid again following a cleanup operation by the armed forces on July 10. Anwar said he was told to interview a burqa-clad Aziz, the attire he had attempted to escape in. It was not my decision to interview him in the burqa. I am an employee and I did what I was told, he said. We will avenge Maulana Azizs humiliation at the hands of Hassan, who interviewed him in an insulting way, the students announced on the mosques loudspeaker before police stormed in. I hope sanity will prevail and I will not be harmed, because I am a professional and do not believe in insulting people, Anwar said. He also denied that he was a Shiite Muslim, an impression the students seem to have. I am a Sunni, please understand that, he said.
The federal capital is likely to suffer from more suicide bombings as around 600 suicide bombers are hiding in madrassas and mosques within and around the limits of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, sources told Daily Times on Saturday. Around 600 students of Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia have not returned to their homes after the Lal Masjid operation. These are the people called missing students and they are hiding in madrassas and mosques in and around the two cities. These are walking bombs and are determined to blow themselves up any time, anywhere, said a source directly involved in the ongoing investigation of suicide blasts in the country. 
Two Palestinian gunmen were killed Saturday while planting a bomb on the Gaza-Israel border, Palestinians and medical officials said. The men belonged to a militant offshoot of Fatah, the faction headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. In a text message sent to reporters, the group said the two were on a "holy mission." An IDF spokeswoman said the two were shot after they ignored warning fire to leave the border area, where a security fence separates Israel
Security forces beat to death a Muslim man suspected in the execution-style slaughter of eight Buddhists in Thailand's 
The Sri Lankan navy waged a short sea battle with Tamil Tiger militants Saturday evening, quickly sinking two rebel boats and killing six people on board, the military said. 
AT LEAST 30 former Guantanamo Bay detainees have been killed or recaptured after taking up arms against allied forces following their release.
An analysis of 516 Guantanamo detainees found that while there was no evidence linking six of them to terrorist activities, 95 per cent were a potential threat to US interests. This was based on their affiliations with groups such as al-Qaeda, their enthusiasm for violent jihad, their having undertaken small-arms training or having been willing to perform a support role for terrorism.
